December 28/10 8:49 am - Burnaby 4 Day: Day 1 report and results

Posted by Editoress on 12/28/10

The 2010 Burnaby 4 Day opened with an impressive bagpipe solo as the riders were introduced. The riders responded to the skirling sound with excellent racing in both the Elite men's and women's fields.

The women opened with a 50 lap Scratch Race. The competition was expected to be between American Sarah Hammer and Canada's double world champion Tara Whitten, and they finished in that order. Hammer was clearly the strongest rider in the race, taking a lap of the field quickly. Whitten responded by taking her own lap, but it was a long chase and, shortly after she gained a lap Hammer took a second lap to cement her victory.

The men then put on an exciting Madison performance for the crowd. The defending champions, Svein Tuft and Zach Bell (racing for Haywood), battled all race with the Saputo squad of Colby Pearce and Dan Holloway. Going into the final sprint, Tuft and Bell held a one point lead over Pearce and Holloway, but Holloway was able to out-kick Bell for the final to points, to give the American duo the first win of the event.

The second men's event saw one member of each team take on a 75 lap Scratch Race. Four riders managed to break away and take a lap - Bell, Farrar, Holloway and Bobby Lea. In the final 15 laps, while everyone was jockeying for position, Lea made a gutsy attack and rode away for the win while the other three looked at each other. Bell took second, moving him and Tuft into the overall lead.

However, Pearce and Holloway took the lead right back in the Elimination race for the other half of each team, when Pearce finished second to Jason Allen, and Tuft was eliminated halfway through the race.

The women then rode their second event of the evening - a 100 lap Points Race. World champion Whitten jumped into an early lead after finishing first and third in the first two sprints, however, Hammer then blazed away from the field to lap them within ten laps. Whitten was chipping away at her lead in the following sprints, but Hammer again launched an attack that Whitten tried to follow in vain, as the American took her second lap of the race. Late in the race, Whitten tried to break away for a lap, but Hammer easily chased her down, and the pair were joined by three others to take a lap, and later another lap on her own. It was clear that what Hammer lacked in sprinting or tactical abilities, she could more than make up for in pure power.

The final women's event was a combination Elimination-Scratch Race. The last rider across the line was eliminated each lap until only half the field remained, and then the riders did a final ten lap race. Hammer led from the front for the elimination portion of the race, and then went to the front again for the final two laps with a high enough tempo to burn the rest of the field off her wheel, and take her third straight victory of the night. The American now has a solid lead in the standings with 60 points, followed by Whitten at 48 and the Swiss rider Schider at 42.

"It's not an excuse," commented Whitten, "but I'm coming into the season without as much training this year. I took a month off after the Commonwealth Games, I had to, I was pretty fried. So I'm not as far as long as I was last year. But overall, I'm still pretty pleased with the way the season is going, and I'll get a good block before the Worlds to prepare."

The final event of the night saw the men head out for a second gruelling 200 lap Madison.Pearce and Holloway solidified their overall lead with their second win of the night. Jason Allen and James Carney took second, with Bell and Tuft a distant seventh. Pearce and Holloway now lead the overall standings with 63 points, followed by Bobby Lea and Jackie Simes at 57, and Tuft/Bell at 48.